The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1887-11-04
PROHIBITION IN IOWA.
q Report to the Business
Men Of Des Moines.
Success-Bus,ness Prosperity-85o
New Houses In Des MoInes,
IS Dwelling Houses
Large Bank Deposits.


THE REPORT.
To the Citizens Meeting. The mem
bers OF the committee appointed at the
meeting of September 20, charged with
the duty Of examining into and reporting
upon the effects OF the prohibitory law
upon our city, and the methods OF en-
forcement, have made individually and
by subcommittee of the whole body, q
measurably thorough examination into
the matters intrusted TO them. with very
gratifying resnlts The committee, how
ever. il ON the track OF other information
which it will not be able TO obtain in time
for this meeting. To make proper com
pilation OF the same and the data already
obtained, the committee asks further
time while ub-committees report.
The law prohibiting the sale of all in
toxicants as beverages went into effect
July 4, 1884 A statute which necessarily
attacked a large and lawIess element,
possessed OF, and commanding an abun-
dance OF money and welding the formid-
able political influence which attends the
saloon wherever it is permitted TO thrive,
required time to make it effective Com
sequently, while measures were taken at
once to enforce the law here and in the
state at large, perhaps half the time had
elapsed between the date the statute went
into effect and the present time, before
law could be said TO have the upper
hand; and indeed until after the Clark
law passed the most effective work was
not done. Other causes conspired to
prevent IFS enforcement IN this locality
until the present year. The struggle for
its enforcement, however, was going on
all the while, and then it was that the
heavy court costs of which so much Is
said, were entailed- In the nature OF
things the struggle against an institution
which Is the conservator of all crime,
could not but be costly. The institution
Of slavery, could il have been peacefully
abolished, would ret have entailed an
enormous Indebtedness upon the nation.
As il was, the expenditure was fearful
Yet as a mere matter OF dollars and cents
who would restore it to-day? The strug.
gle over the benefits OF that struggle are
now perceptible. So ia it with the fight
for prohibition, and we doubt not the
time will come here. as it is coming in
Kansas, and as il came In Maine nearly
twenty years ago, when no party will be
found to oppose it When the Law went
into operation July 4, 1884, there were in
Des Moines some
sIxTT-THREE LICEssED SALOONS.
Besides scores Of drug stores and illicii
places where liquors were sold more OF
less freely. In addition to all these, there
were four breweries and one distillery il
full operation, manufacturing immenss
/ quantities OF intoxicants per month
Now there is neither distillery
brewery, nor saloon openly offering
to sell Intoxicating liquors as beverage
Doubtless there are yet some aholes-in
wall" where liquors are clandestinel,
sold to the initiated into the devious way
of these disreputable and outlawet
places. IT Is equally certain that man,
OF our druggists, contrary TO the pledges
of the State Association of Pharmacy
and of the spirit and intent of the phar
macy law, continue now, as they did be
} fore the enactment of the present law. b.
means Of various subterfuges and dis
guises, to all considerable quantities o
intoxicating liquors. The defects whicl
. experience has shown to exist in th
pharmacy Law, and IN the whole matte
OF granting permits. ought to be, an,
doubtless Biifsbe, cured by the next leg
islatufe. But it will be no cure for tn
evil to open the food gates wider Tn
charges sometimes brazenly made tha
there is as much liquor sold and as muc
drunkenness in Des Moines now as befor
the prohibitory enactment, are SO man
testify and egregiously false that they nee
no refutation before any intelligen
, honest and observing assembly of on
, citizens. Evidently "the wish is the fathe
: to the thought on the part Of those NAL
' ing the allegations.
: Here it is proper to notice some recer
] statements concerning shipments int
this city. A very conservative estimai
is made to put the shipmentr OF beer int
this county at 800 car loads, by jud
. ciously selecting one Of the two road
which moved nearly all of it, and as tbs
road is said to have brought in 81 cs
loads, every road coming into Des Moins
: from whatever direction, including I'll
Il Osceola and Winterset roads, is assume
b to do the same From the same sourt
+ comes a statement as to the amount
r distilled spirits brought into the count
based upon shipping permits issue
6 from the county auditors Office. Evel
time these liquors are moved by cor
: mon carrier, whether railroad compar
!, or an expressman, it must be under
: shipping permit" One of the compani
3 doing business retains the shipping pc
NIT, that another has to be issued
s unload the car on the road of that cor
e pany when it arrives here. III the Who'll
: sale dealer sells it to retailer, and Il
It latter employ an expressman, there mu
n he another permit; and the same if it
n sold to go out of town. Hence the sar
u package OF liquor may be the subject
: two, three or even more permits. 1t
; therefore easy, by putting all these pt
mits together, to figure out lar
amount of shipments" into the COUNT
le OF this liquor thus brought In it is W
a known that q large part, il not the great
10 goes out of the city.
y 1t is quite remarkable that these sta
= ments OF enormous quantities Of liqu